Phillies defense shines in 2-1 extra innings victory over Mets

Alec Bohm drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to give the Phillies a 2-1 victory in the first game of a huge series against the New York Mets.

Phillies (63-49) Beat Mets (73-40) 

• Winning Pitcher: Seranthony Dominguez (6-3, 1.49)
• Losing Pitcher: Mychal Givens (6-3, 3.63)
• Save: David Robertson (16, 2.03)

The Phillies defense won a ballgame tonight. No, this is not a typo.

Alec Bohm may have put the Phils ahead in the 10th inning, but it was Matt Vierling’s clutch throw to nail a tagging Starling Marte at home plate in the bottom of the 9th that truly sparked tonight’s victory. With Daniel Vogelbach at the plate and one out, the Mets were unable to drive in Marte who reached base with a leadoff double off Seranthony Dominguez.

The Phillies had their own play at the plate in the top of the 10th inning when Alec Bohm hit a lazy fly ball to shallow right field. Starling Marte got his feet under the ball and delivered a perfect throw to Mets catcher Tomas Nido who was unable to corral the baseball on a hop allowing Bryson Stott to score and putting the Phils on top for the first time since the 2nd inning.

Bryson Stott became the first player to ever reach base four times in the same game against Max Scherzer and scored both runs for the Phils who were without their best offensive player in Kyle Schwarber after he injured his calf on Thursday.

Ranger Suarez was close to dominant tonight as he faced off against 3x Cy Young award winner Max Scherzer. Ranger tossed seven strong innings allowing one earned run on three hits while striking out four.

Ranger Suarez has now allowed only four earned runs in his last 28 1/3 innings pitched, good for a 1.27 ERA dating back to the beginning of July.

As for Scherzer, he allowed nine hits, including three in an opening frame in which he allowed Bryson Stott to reach on a double and then score on an RBI single by Alec Bohm. Scherzer was uncharacteristically in trouble for much of the night but managed to limit the damage on the scoreboard by escaping jams and forcing double plays.

Jose Alvarado, Seranthony Dominguez, and David Robertson who picked up another save combined for three scoreless innings of relief in which they only allowed two hits.

Even with the key victory, the Phils are still a massive 9.5 GB of the Mets who have been perhaps the only team hotter over the past few weeks. But if the Phils are to take this weekend’s series, a win tonight was huge as they are scheduled to face off against Jacob Degrom in Saturday’s game.

Alec Bohm drives in Bryson Stott with an RBI single in the 1st inning off Mets starting pitcher Max Scherzer.

1-0 Phils

Mark Canha ties the game up with a sacrifice fly in the 2nd inning driving in a slow Pete Alonso.

1-1 Phils

Alec Bohm makes a fantastic defensive play on the infield grass to get Starling Marte in the 6th inning.

Matt Vierling sends the Phillies into extra innings with a fantastic throw from left field to nail a tagging Starling Marte. On to the 10th inning!

Mets catcher Tomas Nido is unable to haul in the throw from Starling Marte in right field allowing Bryson Stott to score on the go-ahead sacrifice fly from Alec Bohm.

2-1 Phils

David Robertson gets the save and the Phillies take game 1 in NY!

Phils Win 2-1

Up Next for the Phillies

The Phillies will take on the Mets in the second game of a three-game series at Citi Field in New York on Saturday

Aaron Nola (8-8, 3.17) will toe the rubber facing off against Jacob DeGrom (1-0, 2.53) with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 pm.

NBC Sports Philadelphia will carry the broadcast of the game.

Mandatory Photo Credit: Philadelphia Phillies